Playing
an online game with hundreds, or even thousands, of
gaming enthusiasts is an experience that you shouldn't
miss. It takes on a life of its own; an alternate
reality complete with laws, various factions and organizations
and a hierarchy system which is facilitated by the
leveling-up process that is the basic foundation of
RPGs. Anarchy Online: Alien Invasion is an expansion
pack to Anarchy Online. Although beginners can play
it, it's not recommended since you'll be at a serious
disadvantage in virtually every situation.

Newbies
will have a tough go at any such established, persistent,
online, multi-player game since most will be populated
with high-level characters that have been there from
the beginning. It's true that a lot of veteran players
do get bored with these games after a while because
there is always some kind of plateau where powers,
skills and abilities cannot be increased. Although
it serves to keep hardcore fanatics from continually
wasting their real existence leveling-up to ridiculous
levels that would make them untouchable to any normal
player.

Expansion
packs help to bring new adventures, characters, abilities,
weapons and armor to the mix while preserving one's
investment in his or her characters. Alien Invasion
offers some new, and welcome, features to the game
but there's no doubt that the original engine is going
to be in need of an overhaul in the next year or two.

Along
with new characters, quests, armor and weapons, Alien
Invasion also offers none other than .Alien Invasions.

There
is a new threat to the colony of Rubi-Ka. The more
experienced players have created their own cities
by purchasing various materials and arranging them
to form massive communes that house shops, stores
and dwellings. These cities are very expensive to
build and exclusively off limits to beginner players
which don't have the experience and thus the potential
to generate the money required to participate. Although
it's possible to get to that experience level, since
the original game is included in the expansion pack,
it's going to be a long, hard struggle. This is not
recommended for the impatient.

Cities
are often cloaked with an invisibility shield until
they are nearly completed and their defense capabilities
have been installed. Aliens will invade these cities
offering a new threat to the stability of the online
community as well as a new challenge - read: something
to do. The aliens attack in swarming droves. They
are big, ugly and powerful but not so much so that
an experienced band of high-level characters can't
kick their ass. As the attacks increase in intensity,
the alien mothership will appear containing the alien
boss. You have to board the ship and take on the boss
before it returns to outer space, otherwise your entire
team will die. Alien experience points will be awarded
for successful combat which will allow you to acquire
alien weapons and armor which will give you new powers
to play around with in your online world.

The
engine is getting old. You can really see it when
comparing the original blocky characters to the more
refined aliens. I did encounter some slowdown during
the alien attacks but I was using a Pentium III, which
is the absolute bare minimum. (Yes, I also live in
a cave). The cities are blocky looking but they're
interesting because they are player-built and while
not graphically detailed they are structured with
lots of imagination, the result of teamwork and I'm
sure, lots of arguments.

New
clothes, both for combat and casual wear, have been
included to further customize your character. Most
of the sound effects are from the original game although
there are some new alien noises.

Alien
Invasion injects enough of a dose of excitement to
boost fans' adrenaline levels for a while. You're
bound to get a few more months out of the game.